Now Commenting On:

Ring 'em up: Vote with your cell phone

Ring 'em up: Vote with your cell phone

Do you want to vote your Yankee hero Derek Jeter into the All-Star Game while you're on the Long Island Rail Road?

Or maybe you're standing on the El platform and you want to punch in a selection for scrappy White Sox leadoff man Scott Podsednik.

Perhaps you're riding shotgun in a convertible on the Pacific Coast Highway and you feel like it's time to vote for proud Padre Trevor Hoffman.

Or it could be that you're waiting in line at Pat's Steaks and you can't choose between Brett Myers and Billy Wagner, two of the Phillies' finest.

Well, it doesn't matter if you're in New York, Chicago, San Diego, Philadelphia, Houston, Tampa Bay, Minneapolis, Phoenix or San Diego.

Balloting for the Ameriquest All-Star Final Vote continues until 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, so you still have plenty of time to select one final nominee from each league to go to Detroit for the 76th All-Star Game on July 12 and represent that league's 32nd and final roster spot.

And for the first time ever, you can make your endorsements ring -- literally.

In addition to voting online at MLB.com, you can punch in your selections on-the-go from your cell phones.

Fans can simply text the word 'VOTE' to 69652 (MYMLB) and be instantly registered to receive the Final Vote ballots. Then, for just 99 cents per ballot, you'll have the freedom to vote from wherever you are - be it KC, LA, Big D, The Big Easy or The Big Apple.

After one day of balloting, Jeter leads the American League voting by a hair over Podsednik, and the AL's other nominees, in order of current position in the voting, are Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter, Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui and outfielder Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

In the NL, Houston Astros right-handed starter Roy Oswalt, no doubt helped by his strong performance in a 4-1 win over San Diego on Monday, leads and is followed closely by Hoffman and sinkerballer Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The voting is rounded out with Wagner and Myers of the Phillies.

And already the fans are getting into it.

Prior to Monday night's game in Chicago, the White Sox held a 'Pause for Pods," during which the announcers encouraged fans to use their cell phone to vote for Podsednik. The club also made several PA announcements and message board messages during the game encouraging fans to vote on line and via cell phone.

The Final Vote was conceived in 2002 as a way to let fans have the final say in a process that traditionally led to water-cooler debate about players who were not selected and had strong cases.

So log onto MLB.com and get dialed in to all the statistics so you can make your choices.

Then dial in to make those choices count.

Doug Miller is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.